About the Poems

by Heidi Lynn Staples

I've got a new manuscript called dog girl and most of the poems have been in bed with other poems, that is each poem responds explicitly to another one out there. Each piece in the first section, "Oread", for example, repeats the end-rhyme words of Shakespearean sonnets. The group of poems published here come from the second section "Iambe, Intimate and Interactive," and many poems respond to the physical appearance and/or syntax of another living author's poem(s). The book's intended to say something about the social nature of poetry, the de-centered nature of meaning making, and the laughter at the art of it all. Now dear reader, this is No Tell Motel. The management promises complete discretion; however, for those delightfully snoopy folks who might want to know with which poems these poems have had their dirty little tristes, the notes section of dog girl is an old fashioned art-spelt confession. In the meantime, if you're reeling an urgent sense of detective, you might want to stake out La Petite Zine.